Ok, first off I realize I'm not a professional electrician (or anything, really.) But I came up with an idea to build a multi-purpose power box. I used a plastic utility box from Home Depot (18.99,) a 7Amp Charge Controller from Harbor Freight (25 bucks,) a light fixture and base from Home Depot (2.99,) a 12VAC/DC 2 Watt LED Bulb (22.00,) a Werker 12V 12AH battery (35.00,) and a switch from Radio Shack (3.99.) And a 400W inverter (50.00.) Oh, and also a "sling" from a Super Soaker :goof:
I got my father to help, and we spent the day stuff it in the box, and attaching the wires. I placed two terminals outside the box to attach solar panels to for charging the battery.
I had a lot of fun, and I think I'll get a lot of use out of this box for the light, charging my cell phone, etc. Even a small power panel could recharge the power spent charging my phone and using the light all night. I also ran a DVD player and 21 inch LED TV for an entire movie
Not the best quality build, but it was fun and got to spend the afternoon messing around on a project with my dad! I posted this on Arfcom but thought I'd share here.
Update:
In case anyone is interested... had the power go out again. Really bad storms on an off... but two 2W panels managed to keep my box at 12.9v, allowing me to keep my cell phone charged and to use the light on the box (2W bulb.) I ran the light an hour or so a night.
Below, I hooked it up to one of my 15W folding panels since I hadn't tested those out.
Off topic, it was also a great test for my main solar array which made things a lot of fun. The only thing that sucked was sometimes the window AC compressor would peak and cause my inverter to shut off when running other things. I am going to try to hook up a 120W wind unit and get a 5kW Pure Sine the next opportunity.
I got my father to help, and we spent the day stuff it in the box, and attaching the wires. I placed two terminals outside the box to attach solar panels to for charging the battery.
I had a lot of fun, and I think I'll get a lot of use out of this box for the light, charging my cell phone, etc. Even a small power panel could recharge the power spent charging my phone and using the light all night. I also ran a DVD player and 21 inch LED TV for an entire movie
Not the best quality build, but it was fun and got to spend the afternoon messing around on a project with my dad! I posted this on Arfcom but thought I'd share here.
Update:
In case anyone is interested... had the power go out again. Really bad storms on an off... but two 2W panels managed to keep my box at 12.9v, allowing me to keep my cell phone charged and to use the light on the box (2W bulb.) I ran the light an hour or so a night.
Below, I hooked it up to one of my 15W folding panels since I hadn't tested those out.
Off topic, it was also a great test for my main solar array which made things a lot of fun. The only thing that sucked was sometimes the window AC compressor would peak and cause my inverter to shut off when running other things. I am going to try to hook up a 120W wind unit and get a 5kW Pure Sine the next opportunity.